Mercedes to build the Sprinter commercial van in North America

Daimler, the parent company of luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz recently announced the next-generation of the brand’s well-known Sprinter van would also be manufactured in North America, shifting some production from Germany to raise competitiveness.

Daimler already has the Sprinter assembled from knocked-down kits shipped from Germany at an assembly facility in Ladson, South Carolina but now the announcement covers the full production process of the model. The German company did not specify where in North America would take place the building process.

According to Volker Mornhinweg, the chief of the vans unit at Mercedes-Benz, Daimler “can cover the growing demand for large vans in the North American market economically only if we produce the vehicles locally in the NAFTA region.” He added that the decision on the Sprinter production facility in the area (which includes Mexico, Canada and the US) would be made in the coming months.

The US is Mercedes Sprinter’s second biggest market following Germany, but the company loses a lot of time and money (increasing end-user prices) as it needs to produce the Sprinters (for Mercedes and Freightliner brands) in German facilities at Duesseldorf and Ludwigsfelde, then dismantle them and send for re-assembly in Ladson.